“Should we share the gospel without knowing it… personally?”

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entering his rest, exhortation, experience, faith, following Jesus, God's love, Jesus Christ, rest, Satan, T.A. Sparks, true faith

“For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me; you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge.” (Ps 31:3-4 ESV) – Photo by Susanne Schuberth (Cadolzburg/Bavaria)

What a strange verbalization one might say. Yet in order to get your attention, I decided to put this question the way you can read it in the headline. So, what does it mean to know the gospel? Is it enough for us Christians to have read the Bible, most commentaries, and to know the majority of answers to theological questions? Should we, then, whenever we meet someone of whom we think they might be unsaved speak up and tell them that we already have what they don’t have (as yet)?

Enjoying Life by Obeying God or… The Choice of Life and Death

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death, decisions, discerning the spirits, dying to self, eternal life, exhortation, experience, family, freedom, friends, grace, idolatry, joy, life, loved ones, new creation, old creation, pain, peace, suffering, T.A. Sparks, unbelief, walking by the spirit

Some Wildflowers on the Balcony
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

God spoke to me a few minutes ago through the following Scriptures. He made them alive particularly by emphasizing the word TODAY. You can read this word five times in these verses. As many might know, five is the number that stands for GRACE. Just to give you a few hints as for the context in which God spoke to me, I can tell you that I had a struggle regarding a decision on how to react (or not) to someone’s misbehavior that put them in more or less big trouble. If you love someone, you might know how difficult it is to not intervene when you see things go downhill. So, my heart was very troubled about this trial as God pointed out to me that NOW it was my choice to turn to Him and to obey Him instead of trying to ‘save’ someone I love. If I obeyed Him, all things would turn out well, He said. Below you can read the Bible verses that reached my heart and comforted me immediately.

How do we recognize if we are guided by the Holy Spirit?

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death, discerning the spirits, dream life, experience, following Jesus, God, God's guidance, obedience, Oswald Chambers, quickening of the spirit, T.A. Sparks, walking by the spirit

Stairs under water (Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

If you and I want to be led by the Holy Spirit 24/7 and we are insecure about whether we have been led by Him or not, the following excerpt from one of T. Austin Sparks’ articles might be helpful to read. What I did not copy and paste were Sparks’ implementations on how and when Jesus refused to do what others told Him (whether his mother, his siblings, or other people were concerned) because that would have been too long an article on here. Nonetheless, if someone has time and wants to read the whole thing, you will find the link beneath the excerpt, as always.